MySQL Command Line Client flashes then disappears when tryning to open in Windows 7?

When I try to open an instance of MySQL Command Line Client in Windows 7, a DOS compatibility command line like window flashes up on my desktop then disappears in less than a half a second. Too fast for me to read anything on or in the Window. It is for MySQL version 5.5.20. This happens from desktop shortcut and Start Menu All Programs.

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Thank you, but that didn't help. I opened a command prompt first, and kept it open -- no help. I opened a command prompt - closed it. Then I tried to open the MySQL command line and got the same result. It just flashes up - then disappears from my desktop very fast. Everthing else on the PC is behaving normal as best I can tell.

I have TOAD for MySQL installed on that PC. I can open TOAD and connect to the running instance of MySQL server. There are only 4 schemas there because I haven't created a user database in the MySQL RDBMS instance yet. The performance schema is the only one with any tables in it. Only 3 of the tables have any data in them at all, and it is not very much. So I know that the MySQL instance is running as a service on that PC. At this point this is all I know.

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I'm running the command line prompt that way. I can execute several varieties of the SHOW command and get good results. This would be OK except the DOS compatibility window will not expand width wise and the MySQL Command Line client will. This is an issue for me that I would rather not have to live with.

That didn't fix it, but that got me to looking closer at something else that I should have looked at more closely in the first place. The problem was this.

The full path to the executable didn't have to be in the PATH environment variable because the short cut created by the installation wizard specified the full path to the executable. The problem was that there was a command line parameter on the short cut "Target" execution line that specified the path to the "my.ini" file that the MySQL server uses to know where to find the data and log files and a whole bunch of other stuff. That path was to the wrong directory because I frequently change the specified place to put things. I have paid a high price for being obstinate about things like that before.

This is what the Wizard created in the Shortcut:
====================
"C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin\mysql.exe" "--defaults-file=C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\my.ini" "-uroot" "-p"

This is what I changed it to to fix it:
====================
"C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin\mysql.exe" "--defaults-file=C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL 5520 InnoDB Datafiles\my.ini" "-uroot" "-p"

Thank you,
Ted Palmer

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No comment from an EE Expert provided a solution that fixed the problem exactly. I want those who are looking for a solution to read this question and answer in the future to get directly to the complete correct answer as soon as possible without spending time on an incorrect answer before reading my full description.